It’s hard to picture it right now, but fall & winter 2025 plans are dominating my mind this morning. I’m drenched in sunlight, sitting on my deck sipping strong coffee and listening to Van the Man’s Astral Weeks on low.  There’s a 14 year old down the hall, probably on a phone.  I can hear the neighbours creaky clothesline being urged out, full of laundry.  A little WD40 might do the trick, but this thing’s got character.

Come November, my last record will be a year old.  It’s all happened fast.  My life has changed so much since it came out, and I’ve been spending this year either playing live to keep the bills paid, or climbing the scaffolding & working on myself while navigating a separation from my long-time partner.  It really is coming to the time where I’m asking myself, at least musically: “What’s next?”

I’m not ready for an album.  Don’t know if the world needs it anyway.  We want singles, baby.  I have a couple of songs that I’d love to track, though, and in my experience, ‘a couple of songs that I’d love to track’ generally opens floodgates of some kind.

These 10 songs on “Live Now” have been so good to me, though.  They really have.  ‘One More Fire’ got the ball rolling, and all of the singles that have followed it have been so much fun to deliver live; I still believe in them all and I see them as positive light-seeking musical missiles full of hope.  I hope you’ve found something to grab onto on that record, because that’s what it’s ultimately about. Connectivity.

“A Song Can Change Your Mind” is the latest song on the album to have it’s own spotlight shone on it… and it exists simply as my reflection of a couple of decades in this business.  The good, the difficult, the bi-annual friends, the loss & the redemptions & gratitude; they’re all in this tune and I’m happy it not only made the record, but that the video is getting viewed on YouTube at a brisk rate (for me).  Huge props once again to my talented friend Mike Weir for capturing me as I am.

Click here to watch

Share it, subscribe to the channel & follow along … I’ll be posting some new cover songs shortly to (hopefully) keep you coming back.

For now, get outside & bask in that sun.  Out here in Western Canada, it’s not here for a long time.

~R

Ryan McMahon